Daily Physical Activity and Sleep Measured by Wearable Activity Trackers during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Lesson for Preventing Physical Inactivity during Future Pandemics

Hidetaka Hamasaki

doi:10.3390/app11219956

Abstract

Wearable activity trackers are devices that are comfortably worn on the body and are designed to be effective in monitoring daily physical activity and improving physical fitness of the wearer. This review aimed to investigate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on physical activity measured using wearable activity trackers and discuss future perspectives on wearable activity trackers during pandemics. Daily physical activity was significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of strict public health measures, such as total lockdown, can decrease people’s physical activity by 50% or more of that prior to the lockdown. Physical inactivity is significantly associated with several health problems, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancers; therefore, an effective healthcare system to prevent physical inactivity during pandemics should be established. It is essential to create a network between healthcare organizations and wearable activity tracker users to monitor real-time health status and prepare for the future pandemic.

Highlights

This study showed that wearable activity trackers were useful to detect adherence to the pandemic policies, the strategy to make use of data from wearable activity trackers for health management and prevent damage to cardiometabolic health is not exhibited
This review has shown that the pandemic and/or non-pharmaceutical public health measures significantly reduce people’s daily physical activity, which should be harmful for metabolic health
It depends on the types of non-pharmacological public health measure; the reduction in daily physical activity reaches approximately 10–50% of the amount of daily physical activity before the pandemic

Summary

Introduction

And work stresses were significantly increased due to COVID-19, and a decrease in physical activity was associated with a larger work stress These two studies assessed the influence of the pandemic on mental health of humans as well as physical activity, both of which indicate that the pandemic itself and/or physical distance measures, such as lockdown and self-isolation, negatively affect people’s mental state. Zinner et al [29] investigated the impact of social distancing and lockdown on daily physical activity, sleep, and training mode and intensity in highly trained athletes, kayakers, and canoeists in Germany This retrospective observational study enrolled 14 young athletes, and their data concerning sleep duration, daily physical activity, and heart rate during each training session were collected using a multi-sensor smartwatch (Polar M430).

15 May 2020

Future Perspectives of Wearable Devices during Pandemics

Conclusions